


Sunflower: Radiance

by winterune



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Best Friends, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Youkai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22111675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterune/pseuds/winterune
Summary: Set before Natsume became friends with Nishimura and Kitamoto. Natsume was helping Touko plant some flowers in the garden at the front of the house when several youkai thought it was fun to play a prank on him.This is my piece for the Blooming: Natsume's Book of Flower Zine
Relationships: Kitamoto Atsushi & Natsume Takashi & Nishimura Satoru
Comments: 12
Kudos: 59





	Sunflower: Radiance

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my two pieces for the Blooming: Natsume's Book of Flowers Zine. This piece centers around the Sunflower with the meaning "Radiance".

Natsume crouched before a patch of plowed earth near the house entrance, outfitted in gloves and boots. He had been planting sunflower seeds with Touko. “They’ll brighten our lives,” she’d said. But before they could finish, a neighbor came by and asked for her help. She had been hesitant but Natsume had reassured her that he would be fine finishing the garden by himself. They’d already done most of the work and there were only a few seeds left. He only needed to water everything after that. Even a novice like him could do something as simple as that. 

Once he finished planting, Natsume spared the garden a glance, praying nothing would befall his hard work, before he left to fetch a watering can from the storage. Filling it to the brim with water, Natsume returned, only to stop short when he witnessed a couple small  _ youkai _ running amok across the newly-planted garden, laughing their heads off.

“ _ Hey! _ ” Natsume yelled without thinking.

The  _ youkai  _ stopped and looked his way. Two pairs of beaded eyes met his and silence fell. The moment they shared a glance—a smirk and a glint in their eyes—Natsume knew what they were going to do. Messing things up, like always, and his guardians would see, and they’d judge, and the Fujiwaras wouldn’t look at him with the same warmth and kindness ever again.

Natsume ran after them before they even took off, watering can tossed aside, water splashing everywhere.

“ _ Get back here! _ ” he shouted at the two shrieking  _ youkai _ , always an inch out of reach. He could just imagine Touko coming back, seeing him running around by himself like a lunatic. But he didn’t care! Not when Touko’s hard work was being trampled upon. She would be so upset!

“Natsume?”

The call jerked him to a stop. Eyes wide, heart beating hard and fast, he couldn’t believe his ears. He turned around. By the gate was Nishimura, head cocked to the side. His gaze shifted to the messed-up garden and his eyes widened in shock, much to Natsume’s dismay.

Kitamoto appeared beside him a moment later. He smiled when he noticed Natsume, but as he followed Nishimura’s line of sight, he saw the chaos. His jaws slackened.

Natsume’s eyes widened in horror at this turn of events. He glanced at the two  _ youkai _ , who now realized where Natsume’s attention was. They met his gaze, and their devilish grins were enough to tell him what they were planning.

His classmates were standing by the garden now, looking around at the mess the  _ youkai  _ had caused. Talking amongst themselves—something about a typhoon or offering a hand, Kitamoto crouched down and picked up a debris, but Natsume couldn’t focus. The  _ youkai  _ were inching ever closer to his classmates! He had to do something!

Nishimura suddenly called his name again, and the moment Natsume’s attention shifted away from the two  _ youkai _ , they jumped, ready to sink claws or teeth or whatever down on them—

“ _ No! _ ” Natsume screamed so loud, leaping to tackle down the  _ youkai _ , that Kitamoto, who had started to gather the unearthed seeds, stopped in his tracks, eyes wide, and—

Natsume didn’t know when Nyanko-sensei arrived, or when he transformed, but the next thing he knew, the garden was blanketed in bright white light, followed by a familiar growl and terrified screeches. Then, everything died down, and Natsume was lying face-down on the garden. When he looked up, the  _ youkai  _ were gone, and the cat was right beside his face, staring at him irritably, before leaving with a huff.

“Are you okay, Natsume?” Kitamoto asked.

Natsume looked over his shoulder and found his classmates staring at him, dumbfounded.

“Ah…” Natsume’s jaw opened slightly. “I’m fine, I—” For a split second there, he’d forgotten about them. He racked his brain for whatever reason he could give them, but before he could say anything, both of them started laughing so loud they had to clutch their stomachs

Natsume pursed his lips, his cheeks tinged pink.

“Sorry, sorry,” Kitamoto said as his laughter died down and Nishimura brushed tears from his eyes. And without any preamble, they began tidying up the garden, gathering up the seeds and the broken fence.

“Wait—” Natsume began, trying to stop them. “No, you don’t have to—” But neither of them were listening to him. “Ni—Nishi—Kitamoto—”

“Natsume,” Nishimura said sternly, and Natsume was taken aback by the intensity in his voice. “We’re friends, right?”

“What…?”

“And friends help each other,” Kitamoto added.

Natsume froze. Friends…?

Just then, Nishimura looked up, and he gasped.

Natsume looked over his shoulder and the sight of his foster mother standing there sent his heart plummeting to the ground. He jumped to his feet. “Touko-san—” he began, but the words failed him. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to explain something— _ anything _ .

But Natsume stopped short when he met her gaze, because the look in her eyes showed nothing but warmth and affection.

“Do you know the florist down the road?” she asked. He didn’t, but his classmates did, so Touko said with a kind smile, “You can get some more supplies there.”

Nishimura and Kitamoto took this as a cue to take Natsume there, but Natsume didn’t understand. Why wasn’t Touko reprimanding him? 

Drowning in guilt, he bowed his head and apologized to her before leaving, but Touko only shook her head and said softly, “There’s nothing to be sorry for. Have fun with your friends.”

_ Friends. _

That word again. It echoed in his mind as Natsume walked away with his classmates. Were they really friends?

His mind was too preoccupied with it that a touch of a hand on his shoulder almost made him jump.

“There’s the florist,” Kitamoto said. 

A small building stood a ways away beside a sunflower field—tall, bright, yellow flowers that were dazzling under the afternoon sun. Radiant against the shadows. 

_ They’ll brighten our lives. _

Natsume froze mid-step, his heart beating harder.

“Cheer up!” Kitamoto said beside him. “It’s not like the world is ending.”

“Yeah. We just need to fix the garden and everything will be okay,” added Nishimura. They grinned when Natsume met their eyes, and Natsume finally felt a smile tugging at his own lips. 

Touko was right. They did brighten his life.

**~ END ~**

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it ^^ Please leave a comment or two if you like :D I would like to know what you think. Thanks!


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